Memories of a Moment
by Written Parody
Summary: Katara's POV of a little moment that happened a day or so after the war ended. Very short oneshot, Zutara and Kataang.


**AN: **Firstly let me just explain that it's winter where I live. Winter= rain, hence the fact that my latest Zutara fics all have rain in them. Just thought I'd clear up the whole repetition of falling water thing. Secondly, I'm sorry if you find this gloomy. I don't know what brought it on, really. I guess it's a mixture of the gloomy weather, the Kataang spawn Korra is going to bring us and withdrawal symptoms from Zutara Week. I'll make the next fic longer and lighter, promise.

All reviews will be loved, even if they consist of "GASP! HOW COULD YOU?". I'm just a review junky that way. Hope you enjoy it even a little smudge.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Avatar. If I did, the ending to this fic would have been different, I can assure you.

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**Memories of a Moment**

The rain seemed symbolic, somehow. Even though the Fire Nation monsoons start around that time every year I can remember thinking that the rain was a gift from the spirits: a means to wash away the last hundred years of war. I remember being inexplicably drawn to the balcony, unable to resist stretching out to feel the water. I remember glancing up to see you on the balcony across from me. You were leaning heavily against the railings, watching the water clean away the ash that clung to the palace walls. I can still remember how your eyes grew sad and haunted when you looked at the place your sister had flailed and cried, chained to the sewer.

At that moment the rain lost its hold on me and instead you seemed to become my gravity. I moved to you as if in a dream, so quickly that the journey is still a blur, and when I got to you you were still in the same position as you had been. When you turned to me I saw how much you were still hurt and it hurt me: I was the reason you got hit. I was the reason you'd nearly died. I don't know what you saw in my eyes but it made your hands stop clutching your abdomen almost at once. Our eyes met and I tried not to notice the strange tenseness of the moment. We spoke about the downpour. I told you I'd missed rain. You told me that the palace was suffocating you; you wanted to get out. Against all my better healer judgement I agreed to take you. You looked too trapped for me to refuse.

I remember how you welcomed the falling water on your face, how you tipped your head to the sky and let the spirits' gift wash your heart clean as well as your land. I remember finally losing my self-control and throwing my hands up to the sky, doing a Waterbender's dance of welcome to the rain. I remember the way you looked at me when I was done, the way the water plastered your hair to your face and the way your eyes burned as they met mine.

I remember how your gait slowed the further we walked. By the time we were about a mile from the palace you could barely stand anymore, and I was so scared you'd collapse right there in the empty street. But you were stronger than that. You always have been stronger than that. The drizzle turned to a downpour and I pulled you into the ruin of an abandoned house. You leaned against the door and I tried not to notice how pale you were and how you were shaking. We stood side by side and watched the rain. Then we turned and watched each other.

Both of us moved forward at the same time, closer and closer until our lips met. Your fingers tangled into my hair and my hands gripped the back of your sodden robe, loving the feel of the wet silk. If I hurt you in the way I clutched myself to your chest you never sad so. All you did was pull me closer so that the smell of you in the rain overpowered me. Your lips set mine on fire. They lit up my small world so that I cold see everything plainly set out before me. I knew the path that could be, the path I wanted more than anything, the path that would never unfold. The light went out again and we pulled away from each other. You stared at me for a moment before you left, understanding my need for privacy. I sank down against the wall and pressed my hands to my lips to keep the feeling of your kiss there forever. I shut my eyes and remembered. Sitting next to you on Appa. Fighting the Southern Raiders by your side. The reason you fought Azula alone. The lightning. The way you looked at me when I danced in the rain. I tied them all together and locked them securely in my heart; I could not lose those moments.

Especially not the one that had just happened. The one moment where I was able to kiss you at last. The moment where I was allowed to hold you. The moment you were _mine_.

After reliving that moment I stepped back into reality, as you had. I turned back to the destiny I knew I had to fulfil. I turned back to the way things _had _to be, for the sake of the world. I turned back to Aang.


End file.
